Last year software program maker K2.com stopped relying on Amazon.com (AMZN) for its cloud services and turned to Microsoft (MSFT) instead. K2 Chief Executive Officer Adriaan van Wyk says he’s satisfied with the choice—most of the time. The developer tools of Microsoft’s Azure cloud service are superior, he says, and he likes its customized customer service.

However occasionally Azure is slow, and on Nov. 18 it suffered a international outage that lasted several hours. As insurance coverage, Van Wyk has moved five % of his business enterprise back to Amazon Internet Services. “We still like Microsoft,” he says. “At the similar time, it’s been a bit bumpy. The 5 % makes certain if we have to move back to AWS we can do it rapidly.”...

As we began the New Year, industry prognosticators and research firms published their lists of major technology predictions and trends that could have a major impact on organizations in 2015. We continued to hear about the growing impact of “big data”, the “Internet of things”, cloud computing, and the increasing impact of emerging technologies such as 3D printing, wearables and smart machines.

My research and discussions with dozens of CIOs and line of business executives over the past year indicate that the strategic importance of IT and the role of the CIO continue to grow in importance. Organizations are willing to invest more in technology; however they are expecting a significant increase in business results and at a much faster speed...

It's impossible to read about cloud without reading about hypervisors and virtual machines; virtualization is at the heart of cloud. And for most, that means hypervisor-based full virtualization -- where a host operating system and hypervisor run VM partitions, like independent servers, with their own OS and middleware. However, virtualization casts a wide net that can be valuable in the cloud. And that net contains a popular virtualization model -- container technology.

In the container model, a server runs an OS that creates semi-autonomous containers to load applications. These apps share the OS or host, so servers don't run a new OS copy for each VM. Containers stand between independent VMs and simple multi-programming and offer some application isolation -- but not full separation...

One of the most basic ways to explain cloud computing is that it allows computing from anywhere where there is an available internet connection. Some of the benefits of cloud computing includes enabling remote employees access the same applications they would use on their desktop computers, lower costs on IT infrastructure upgrades, and improve overall collaboration and productivity within your company.

It is estimated that billions of dollars will be invested in cloud computing technology so the trend is clear that cloud computing will only grow in popularity for the foreseeable future. But is it worth the investment for your business? Let’s take a look at he below reasons why your company definitely needs to take a look at this powerful technology...

The word ‘cloud’ refers to an informal expression used to describe a network of computers which are joined together in real time by a single computing network. This whole system of communication is called a cloud computing technology. Cloud computing technology is used today by the help of the internet. The medium of the internet helps in maintaining a real time or live communication forum for cloud computing technology.

In this, large quantities of computers are connected via the internet. The term cloud computing technology does not indicate or represent the scientific term for such a network. In computer science studies, this term, cloud computing technology is used to simply describe the ability or capacity for people to be able to operate a single program over many connected computers all at the same time...

The ever-increasing demand for information and data storage will be the focus of a new centre for training researchers and seeking to develop innovative laser technology to take cloud computing to the next level. The University of Glasgow and Queen's University of Belfast, along with 12 industry partners, are creating a centre to train an initial 50 PhD students in integrative photonics and its applicability to data storage and information processing.

The Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Photonic Integration for Advanced Data Storage will receive funding worth 8.1 million pounds, including 3 million pounds from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The remaining funds will come from the two institutions, industry partners and the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland...

"To build or to buy" has long been the soliloquy of enterprise technology leaders. But as cloud databases and database as a service (DBaaS) offerings continue to mature, administraors are left with more to consider, because the cloud -- and the big data cloud, in particular – is bringing a "to rent" option into the mix.

Storing data in the cloud was by no means the first thought when cloud computing arose. The concept has more than its share of security and compliance issues, and moving masses of on-premises data to the cloud isn't easy. But for some types of data-intensive applications, rented cloud architecture increasingly seems the way to go...

Tech industry bellwethers, including Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon, weighed in this week with quarterly earnings and -- surprise! -- mobile and cloud offerings appear to be the key to their health. The earnings came out amid some upbeat market research about IT spending trends.

For example, Forrester Research reported Thursday that U.S. spending on technology will rise 5.3 percent this year to US$1.3 trillion and 6 percent to $1.4 trillion in 2015, due to an improving economy and a jump in IT purchases by businesses and government agencies. Software will grow faster than hardware and "one of the hottest areas in software is unsurprisingly mobile apps which will grow by roughly 50 percent in 2014, reaching $7 billion," Forrester said...

Several of the Supreme Court justices who heard arguments in the broadcast networks’ case against the online TV site Aereo criticized the company's business model but worried about passing down a ruling that could affect other technology. Broadcasters contend that Aereo — a New York based company with less than a million subscribers — is stealing their signals.

The company uses millions of small antenna to relay broadcast signals to subscribers’ laptops, tablets and other devices, collecting a small fee. While the justices expressed skepticism that Aereo's technology violates copyrights, they also questioned whether the company was trying to take advantage of legal loopholes...

Launched in 1991, Intel's "Intel Inside" marketing slogan and accompanying advertising campaign has been famously successful. The campaign, launched two years after the introduction of the company's 486 processor, made the company - once known only to engineers and scientists - a household name and, in the process, helped stave off commoditization by rival chipmakers, namely AMD.

This morning Intel revealed its "Intel Inside" for the cloud computing era, a new "Powered by Intel Cloud Technology" badge and the associated Intel Cloud Technology Program, designed for Cloud Service Providers (CSPs). The company also announced the initial crop of 16 CSPs to participate in the program and the Intel Cloud Finder, a portal targeted at helping end-users find cloud services built on Intel technologies...